'Sleeper'
We open it up, we talks the talk, we votes, we shuts it down. This thread is to free up Bureaucracy for daily details as we hammer out the Big Issues towards a vote. Open only when a proposal has been made and seconded according to Buffista policy (Which we voted on!). If this thread is closed, hie thee to Bureaucracy instead!
They were threatening legal action against the admins and posters on the board because they didn't like what they were reading.
You'd have to lock all the threads, then, really. Because the show threads go off-topic. And it's mostly Natter, but Natter can lead to more personal stuff.
Besides, you can never tell *what* someone posts that might make an insane lurker decide legal action is necessary.
They were threatening legal action against the admins and posters on the board because they didn't like what they were reading.
On what grounds? Some people threaten legal action if you look at them cross-eyed; doesn't mean you have to take them seriously.
And again, I'm not sure requiring registration would have done Thing One to discourage someone like that.
You'd have to lock all the threads, then, really. Because the show threads go off-topic. And it's mostly Natter, but Natter can lead to more personal stuff.
No, I'm more concerned that we had to handle the response backchannel because we didn't want them seeing the debate on what to do about it.
you can never tell *what* someone posts that might make an insane lurker decide legal action is necessary.
This, too. I mean, someone could post a link to a fan site and say something mildly critical about it, and we could be off to the races if the person who ran the site was a)reading and b)overly sensitive. Threatening legal action is kind of the grown-up equivalent of calling in mommy for certain people.
If it's a question of protecting the board itself, would a statement to the effect of "Buffistas.org is not responsible for what individual posters say" do as much good?
No, I'm more concerned that we had to handle the response backchannel because we didn't want them seeing the debate on what to do about it.
Oh, right. I grok.
If it's a question of protecting the board itself, would a statement to the effect of "Buffistas.org is not responsible for what indivoidual posters say" do as much good?
We've done that.
I'm more concerned that we had to handle the response backchannel because we didn't want them seeing the debate on what to do about it.
Understood.
But if something like that did happen again, would we want it to be up for a week's worth of discussion while we figured out what to do? ISTM that, if it's not posted here, it SHOULD be handled backchannel or in the forum where it comes up.
Mails were few, but the fact that it was there did help in terms of cyber-molesters, I think. It's existence was a huge sign that read, "Adults are watching, and we'll crush you like a bug if you try to hurt these kids, you fucker."
Sounds like what the admins email account is already used for (on occasion). As an admin, I've no problem with acting as an impersonal advocate.
it SHOULD be handled backchannel or in the forum where it comes up.
I agree. At the risk of seeming elitist, I didn't see the need to bring up that particular issue in front of all registered users.
t edit Plus! How do we know whether the folks threatening legal action are registered or not? Maybe they've used a different email to send their threats. Again, a false sense of security is worse than keeping things open or in backchannel, IMO.
If it's a question of protecting the board itself, would a statement to the effect of "Buffistas.org is not responsible for what indivoidual posters say" do as much good?
We've done that.
I can't find it. We talked about it briefly here:
ita "Bureaucracy 1: Like Kafka, Only Funnier" Mar 22, 2003 11:47:49 am EST
but it looks like we got sidetracked, and never followed through.